Iron Man 2 Needs Commodity Jurisdiction from State Department

Iron Man 2 has something for everyone, including 'trade compliance geeks' like me. There is an interesting scene where Iron Man Tony Starke (Robert Downey Jr.) is grilled by U.S. Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) where the Senator insists that Starke surrender the Iron Man suit to the U.S. government. Starke insists the suit isn't a weapon but rather a high tech prosthetic device. Starke goes on to say that "I am Iron Man, the suit and I are one. You can't have it!"

Aside from the obvious issue of government seizure of private property, this would be the place to apply for a commodity jurisdiction (CJ) from the Dept. of State where there would be a determination as to whether or not the suit was specifically designed, developed, configured, adapted or modified for military application and; does not have a predominate civil application and; does not have a performance equivalent to those of an article or service used for civil applications.

In the movie, Tony Starke (Iron Man) insists that he has effectively privatized world peace by interfering with rouge regimes' military operations. In the real world this would be considered a defense service and, therefore, the suit would not be considered a predominately civil application. Sorry Iron Man, this item falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of State and you'll need a license to export the suit. As for the confiscation of the suit by the U.S. government, you will need the help of your hottie lawyer Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson).